


Caged

by wingedcatninja



Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Blood, Blood Loss, Cramped Space, Exhaustion, F/M, caged, mention of injury, small space, whumptober2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26815177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingedcatninja/pseuds/wingedcatninja
Summary: The three of them are caged separately; Dean is badly hurt, and close to breaking. They need to escape. Sam's POV.
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947799
Kudos: 5
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Caged

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober 4th. I apologize for nothing.

With his wrists and ankles still tied, Sam was dragged by the two goons across the dimly lit room. When the cages came into view, Sam had to consciously resist the urge to struggle against the firm grips on his arms. In two of the cages lay his brother and his best friend, seemingly unconscious. With the dim light, and the way they were lying, he could not make out much, but he did register the state Dean was in, his clothes reduced to blood-soaked rags sticking to his body.

Distracted by the sight of the other two, Sam was shoved into the third cage. While goon number one secured the cage door, goon number two dragged Sam up against the bars and cut the ropes holding his wrists and ankles, then shoved him away. His shoulders still stiff, Sam managed to twist his body to land on his side rather than his face, shooting a glare at the demon. 

The two stunt demons left a single camp lantern by the door, the weak light barely enough to see by. Sam flexed his arms and legs, rubbing his wrists where the rope had chafed the skin raw. Aside from a little stiffness and a bruise or two, he was fine. 

After Dean’s torture, Sam had been dragged off to another room down a corridor and left there under guard. By the look of Dean and Kat, they had been the focus of the demon’s torture. 

When he was able to move again, Sam shuffled over to the side of the cage closest to his brother. 

“Dean?” He kept his voice to a whisper, just in case. 

A pained groan was the only response he got and he shuffled over to the other side of his cage. Kat looked to be in better shape than Dean, at least from what Sam could see, but she was lying completely still on the floor of the cage.

“Kat? You ok?” Sam mentally smacked himself for the stupid question.

“I-” She paused to cough and to breathe slowly a few times. “Yeah, I’m ok, mostly,” she said finally. “Just stiff and sore from the ropes. Can you see Dean?”

Sam grimaced at the worry in her voice. He shuffled back across his cage to try and get Dean’s attention again.

“Dean? Talk to me, man. You alive?”

A low groan filled with agony accompanied Dean’s head slowly turning toward him. Sam hissed in anger at the sight of his brother’s face covered in bruises, cuts, and dried blood.

“‘m fine,” Dean slurred, barely able to crack an eye enough to see Sam in the dim light.

“Oh, yeah, sure, you look just peachy, Dean,” Sam replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 

Dean coughed, making him groan in pain again. His hand twitched but stayed where it was. Clearly, Dean was too exhausted to move. Sam felt a growing sense of frustration at not being able to help his brother. The wounds needed to be cleaned and bandaged to stop the bleeding, and he was afraid there might be internal damage. He turned away only when he heard the rustle of fabric against metal from Kat’s cage.

“Dean, don’t talk, baby. You’ll be ok. We’ll all be ok.” Kat said, unable to do anything for her boyfriend other than talk to him. 

Sam could tell that she was feeling the same frustration at not being able to do anything. They were no longer tied up, but just as effectively restrained. He pushed and twisted and pulled at the bars in different places, but the cage was of annoyingly sturdy construction. Feeling something under his fingers, he peered closer at the bars, squinting in the low light. 

There were spell runes etched into the steel. There would be no escaping these cages. Sam let out a deep, frustrated sigh and banged his fist on the bars. 

“Dammit!” He sank down in the corner closest to Dean, leaning his head in his hands. 

“Dean?” He got a barely audible grunt in response. “Kat’s right, Dean, ok? We’ll get out of here. Somehow. We’ll find a way. We always do, right?” He waited for a response, but none came. Concerned, he raised his head to look, seeing Dean in the exact same position as before. Sam stared for a long moment, his eyes having adjusted fully to the low light. Finally, he was able to discern Dean’s body moving with his slow, labored breaths.

“It’ll be ok,” he said again, resting his forehead against the cold steel bars of his cage. Kat huffed from six feet away and he heard the rustle of fabric when she made herself as comfortable as possible in a five-by-five metal cage. 

“No, Sammy,” came a muffled mumble from Dean, his lips barely moving.

“What?” Sam said, his forehead creasing.

“...won’t be ok,” Dean replied, his words still slurring. “...gonna die here.”

“Dean, no!” The words came out much sharper than Sam meant them to. He was cut off by Kat.

“Dean Winchester, you stop that right now. I don’t want to hear another word of such talk from you. We’re going to be fine. We’ve been in worse situations before and we were always fine. So you put on your big boy pants and suck it up because we will get out of here. You hear me?”

Sam flinched at her tone, but it seemed to work because Dean’s cut and bleeding lips curled into a small smile. 

“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled, his voice a fraction stronger than before.

Sam flashed a grateful smile at Kat, then leaned his head in his hands again, hiding his face. No matter what he said, no matter what Kat said, he knew that Dean might be right. It was on him now to get them out of this, before...well, he did not want to think about that just now. 

In the darkness behind his closed eyes, his mind went to work on the problem.


End file.
